Valentine’s Day Printables for the Classroom

Big Universe Learning "hearts" Valentine's Day.

It’s been decades since I decorated a shoebox for Valentine’s Day. All you needed was some shiny paper, a box, scissors to cut construction paper hearts and some paste to make things stick. Of course you couldn’t forget to cut a hole in the lid. If you were an optimist you cut a mailbox slot wide enough to receive a heart-shaped lollipop or a small box of chalk-flavored candy conversation hearts…and maybe, just maybe, a chocolate heart.

 Years have flown by since those elementary school days, and somehow the holiday has fallen by the wayside. As I’ve gotten older I’ve tried to sidestep blatant commercialism of holidays, but I think Cupid had me in the crosshairs of his bow this year. If I’d been paying closer attention, I probably would have heard the “Twang!” as he released his arrow.

 Several valentines arrived in the mail. I got invited to a Valentine’s Day luncheon out of the blue. An extraordinary bouquet of brilliant pink carnations caught my eye at the grocery store, and soon it and two heart-adorned tea towels landed in my cart – along with some chocolate strawberry truffles. A few days later I heard the legend of Valentinus read by a librarian with a knack for storytelling.

 Joy bubbled to the surface. Heart-shaped memories woke up. The kid in me responded.

 Rose-colored glasses? Perhaps. But, wearing them is a lot more fun than being cynical and jaded and grumpy about gray February skies.

 Valentine’s Day can be really fun if you let it be. And, it’s not too late to share time with the little ones in your life, read a book, send a note, give a hug, eat some chocolate, and tell someone you really love them.

 Valentine’s Day Printables

 I adore the printables for kids at the Super Teacher Worksheets website, so they get my Valentine’s Day vote of approval.

• A Valentine’s Day word search.
• A Valentine’s Day heart craft with moveable arms and legs.
• A Valentine’s Day secret message cryptogram.
• A Valentine’s Day word scramble.
• A Valentine’s Day math coloring sheet: subtraction.
• A Valentine’s Day math coloring sheet: addition.
• A Valentine’s Day math coloring sheet: multiplication.
• A Valentine’s Day math coloring sheet: division.

 Activity Village has several cute activities too, including card and stationery templates to practice writing.

• “I Love You” sunflower card.
• Lined Valentine’s Day stationery paper.
• Loveworm bookmark printable.
• Valentine’s Day heart-shaped lacing template.
• List of Valentine’s Day games and activities.

 AmazingMoms.com  also has some good Valentine’s Day games and party ideas. Take a look.

And, don’t forget BigUniverse.com’s Author Tool, which is the perfect vehicle for writing your own Valentine’s Day story. Use the website’s “Write” tab and click on the “Create and Publish Books!” box. To illustrate your text, simply go to the “Occasions” category in the clipart library and select “Holidays,” “Celebrations” or “Valentines.”

XOXO,  Suzan

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Children Need to Enjoy Reading

Encouraging a child to read and enjoy it can sometimes be very difficult. Children who struggle to learn to read and fail soon fall behind their classmates and learn that reading is not fun. When classmates read books during quiet reading times the struggling reader grabs a book and pretends to read. When it’s time to read aloud in front of classmates, the poor reader learns to a.) Go to the bathroom, b.) Visit the nurse’s office, c.) Misbehave d.) Struggle through the reading feeling horribly humiliated by the time they are done. By the time a child who has difficulty learning to read gets to third grade they have fallen two years behind their peers, started to gain the attention of their teachers and learned to hate reading.

What’s the solution? First, as teachers, we need to begin documenting reading difficulties immediately. Interventions, such as extra reading time beyond the allotted times need to be provided. Make adjustments in the difficulty level of a struggling reader and provide them with plenty of books that they can enjoy.  Make sure that reading is occurring at home. Children who are second language learners often have parents who do not speak English and are unable to read to their children at home. Providing picture books, with supporting text is best for these children. A great website for this, if a child has Internet access at home is Big Universe. The choices are endless and the child can keep a reading log so you can track their books and do repeated readings in the classroom. 

It can be also be difficult choosing good quality books for a child, struggling or otherwise. Books with too much text do not support younger children or children who are struggling. Big Universe  has picture books on every topic for all elementary grade levels.

 Why picture books? Colorful pictures that support the reader do marvelous things for the struggling reader. They give a support that nothing else can. We often ask children to visualize as they read but if a child is struggling just to read the words they aren’t able to visualize for comprehension. The books at Big Universe  have already done the visualizing. 

The Big Universe  book Adding and Subtracting at the Lake  is just one example of such a picture book. This book has a reading level of K-1 with a Guided Reading Level of A,B,C. At the end of the book there is a three question math assessment. The book has a picture glossary so the student can be introduced to what a glossary its purpose. Comprehension quizzes can be designed to test for reading comprehension levels of students. Here’s a sample Comprehension Quiz. 

Reading is the most important skill we can give to our children but they have to enjoy it. We need to provide them with appropriately leveled books that they love to read. Big Universe does this with beautiful picture books AND they are online. Children love them! By having the child read from the computer they are incorporating another activity, which children love – technology, another skill they will need for the rest of their lives.